[ann/rfc] bzr-diff-revid

[Colin D Bennett]

On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:30:57 -0800
Benjamin Jansen <aogail at w007.org> wrote:

> I figured the easiest solution would be to make ``bzr diff'' output  
> revids in the diff header, when a revid is available. Thus, bzr-diff- 
> revid was born. [3] It's a simple hack, but it works for me and made  
> our Review Board integration problems go away. ;)
> 
> For example, with the plugin, ``bzr diff'' outputs diff headers like:
> 
> === modified file 'NEWS'
> --- NEWS	revid:pqm at pqm.ubuntu.com-20090115233242-4bxyn4zcj2a0ksfk
> +++ NEWS	2009-01-16 07:20:35 +0000
> 
> If there is no revid available, the timestamp is used.
> 
> I tagged this message [rfc] because I am interested in getting this  
> functionality into bzr proper. Is this something that the bzr team  
> would be interested in?

I concur that using 'revid' values is the proper way to precisely
identify revisions when you need to.  Even if you didn't have the
'date:' problem that you encountered, it is conceivable that two
revisions could be checked in at the same exact time as well, and then
there are potential time zone problems if the date is not precisely
specified, etc.

However, I would not want to see it replace the current, standard diff
output format.  I consider it an enormously important feature that
'bzr diff' produces output compatible with Unix diff.  Non-bzr users
would certainly be confused by seeing the 'revid:...' if you send them
the diff, even it the 'patch' command accepted it.

I think a plugin is the proper location for this feature.

> [2]
> In one specific case, the revision's date was "2008-12-30 13:24:25".  
> To actually see the new file contents for the revision, I had to ask  
> bzr for date:"2008-12-31 08:32:32".

That is weird.  Could it be caused by differing time zones?  I think
this should be looked into.  Could it be a bzr bug?

BTW, I had not heard of Review Board before.  It looks interesting, and
I'll have to explore it some more.

Regards,
Colin
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